Little Cup

Introduction and Background

Little Cup was introduced in Pokémon Stadium 2 as one of the "Stadium Cups," or particular modes in which the player had stipulations on his or her team. The stipulation for Little Cup was that only Pokémon hatched from eggs could participate, which included only Pokémon that could evolve but had just been hatched at, in accordance with ADV mechanics, level 5.

Though players slowly began to pick up this odd tier due to its uniqueness in star Pokémon and viable strategies, it was not until DPP that Little Cup (LC) finally had a chance as a competitive metagame at Smogon under the direction of vader, who brought it over from Stadium 2 with the earliest medium for LC communication, the Little Cup Forum. A few mechanics had changed with breeding, and the logistics of the tier had changed as well; for example, eggs now hatched at level 1, but LC was still played at level 5, which allowed easy application of EV spreads.

DPP LC brought forth a small, tightly knit community and strategies that predominantly revolved around hyper offense. By BW, LC began to progress both as a metagame and as a community. The introduction of Eviolite allowed more balanced strategies to prosper, and the community thrived. When XY LC arrived, the metagame became entirely refreshed, the playerbase growing quickly and LC evolving into an even more fun, enriching environment. Little Cup's evolution continued throughout the duration of XY and is now ORAS LC.